Like a Dog with a Bone
by Yanan
Summary: John thinks it's time to find Keith a mate.  Maybe that will make him happy again. Set during episode 15.


A/N: Just finished writing this. I had to take some benadryl and haven't really checked it for any kinds of errors, so there are bound to be tons. This is supposed to be slightly disjointed and simple as it follows John.

This is slash (or pre-slash), meaning a boy likes a boy. If you do not like slash please go away. You've been warned so I don't want to have to deal with flames, kay?

_Many_ thanks to **LilyGinnyBlack** for allowing me use of the idea that John is in fact a girl and Keith is just that spacey.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tiger & Bunny or Sanrio/Hello Kitty.

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><p>Like a Dog with a Bone<p>

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><p>John loved Keith. She loved him as much as any dog could love their human and she wanted the best for him. She really did. Keith was the best human, after all so he deserved the best. She didn't even mind that Keith thought she was a boy. He was funny like that.<p>

Keith had saved her from the other human who didn't feed her and liked to hurt her. He had saved more people and animals than pieces of kibble in her food bowl (which was nice and blue and had puppy faces on the side of it and boy was she happy to have it) and got called a 'Hero' quite often while in his funny tasting, not-normal clothes. He hadn't been too happy when she'd decided to see if they was an acquired taste and chewed them a little. He also hadn't been happy when she'd marked it, but if he was going to be saving all those other things they needed to understand that Keith already had an owner, thank you very much.

John was happy with her place in life. She only wished Keith weren't so sad. He'd been sad quite a bit recently. It started some time after he got injured. She remembered that clearly.

Keith didn't come home that night and the little old lady down the hall had come over to feed her and let her out. This went on for days. She had worried that her Keith was never coming home.

After two weeks of this routine the woman showed up with another man. It took John some time to recognize this man. He looked and smelled so different than the last time she'd seen him.

"Oh John! You get prettier every time I see you!" Nathan smiled, kneeling down and throwing his arms open wide. "Let's go take you to see handsome, hm? You'll make him much happier than I've been able to."

She'd jumped on him, given him one big long lick up the side of his face and gone to grab the leash.

She'd been so happy to see Keith and he brightened considerably in his hospital bed after Nathan had snuck her in. He'd laughed and hugged her, burying his face in her fur. He had played with her for about an hour before a nurse came in with Keith's lunch. She'd dropped the tray and screamed.

John didn't get to go back to the hospital after that, but that was okay. Her Keith was alive and Nathan told her that he would be released in a few days. She could wait a few more days.

When Keith did come home, she greeted him with his slippers and sloppy kisses.

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><p>It was a gradual change. She didn't notice it at the time, but looking back on it now she almost wished fleas upon herself for being so blind. Her human, her <em>Keith<em> was depressed. Maybe it was time to find him a mate.

"John!" He called, his voice lacking it's usual spark, "Come on! It's time for your walk."

Yes, John decided. It was time to find her Keith a mate. She would just have to learn how to share.

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><p>It had been a solid month since John had made her decision, and she had yet to find someone worthy of her Keith. She was starting to lose hope. Maybe it would be today. Maybe this walk would turn up some results. She just had to keep hope. It was like when she buried a bone a little too deep and just had to keep trying until she found it… Or when Keith didn't want to give her one of her toys or his shoes and they ended up tugging it back and forth until one of them got too tired.<p>

It was on this walk through the park that she noticed it, they were being watched. She wasn't quite sure from where, but she knew very well that they were being watched. There were lots of places to hide in the park though, so she would just have to keep her guard up. Keith was not at the top of his game right now so Keith was hers to protect. She was going to do it right.

When she found the watcher, he was almost on top of them; or rather they were almost underneath him. She paused to mark the tree he was hiding in, taking longer than necessary. The watcher was a boy, quite a bit smaller than her Keith. He was blond like Keith and he seemed content just to watch. There were no malicious feelings coming from him, just a small dose of fear and an intense longing.

"Let's keep going!" Keith smiled, continuing on his walk. She really wanted to study this little blond more. After they'd gone a few paces, she heard a rustling and knew he'd jumped down from his tree.

John liked the way the little blond who just jumped out of the tree smelled, even if he had been watching them. His smell complimented Keith's quite nicely. He would make a good mate for Keith even if he was male. Maybe she should introduce them. She should. She was going to do it. She readied herself before breaking out into a sprint the opposite way Keith was headed, her leash flying from his grip and sprinted after the boy.

"John!" Keith yelled, shocked at her escape. Something told her he was going to be keeping a tighter grip from now on.

The little blond turned at Keith's shout, staring wide-eyed as she tackled him. At impact, he wrapped his arms around her. He smelled even better up close so she licked him, a big swipe up the side of his face. He giggled.

Yes. This human was perfect for Keith.

"John! You can't do that!" Keith ran up flustered.

She let out a low woof in response. This was what he got for not even attempting to find a mate, a suitable mate. She was just going to find one for him.

The human still hugging her turned an interesting shade and the good smell coming from him changed. It was better? Oh yes. She very much liked this human.

"Hi Keith," the little blond half whispered, his arms wrapping around her a little more tightly.

"Ivan! Hello! I didn't see you!" Keith perked up after seeing the little blond under her. Well this made things easier. They had already met. And Ivan was an acceptable name.

"Ah... Yeah," 'Ivan' looked down, staring into her eyes. He raised a hand and stroked her lightly behind the ears. It felt nice. "You must be John. I've heard all about you." He gave her a little smile.

Keith spoke about her? Good.

"Sorry about him! He's usually so well behaved," Keith laughed, a hand behind his head. "C'mon John. Let's get you off so Ivan can get up."

She wasn't quite sure she liked that idea. No. She didn't like it at all. Ignoring Keith, she flopped down on Ivan, causing the boy to topple from his sitting position to one sprawled on his back with a little 'uwah!' sound. After all, Keith was just going to try to leave if she didn't draw this out.

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><p>She sniffed out Ivan in the park many more times after that. He was hiding most of the time, but that was okay. She knew his scent and could tell if it was fresh. When it was, she made sure to find him. Keith said it was like playing hide-and-seek. He was still sad, but he seemed to be getting a little better. He smiled more after he saw Ivan and Ivan was starting to talk more. He would always pet her and recently he'd been sneaking her treats. She liked Ivan; Ivan liked her and really liked her Keith. Keith seemed to like Ivan too.<p>

She wuffed to herself as she watched the two. Keith had paid for ice cream cones and Ivan was having a problem keeping his balanced. It tipped towards him and smeared on the side of his face. Ivan looked shocked, his jacket falling off one shoulder, but her Keith laughed, wiping it off with his thumb before sucking it into his mouth. Her Ivan turned red.

She liked the sound of that. 'Her Ivan'. Her tail wagged as she watched the two. Her Keith and her Ivan.

She decided that next time they saw each other she was going to tangle her Keith and her Ivan up in her leash.

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><p>John didn't like the way the not-girl smelled. <em>She<em> was wrong. _She_ was bad. She had to show Keith.

Like with Ivan before, she readied herself then snapped forward, growling and barking too fast for Keith to realize what she was doing. She snarled before the not-girl that didn't respond.

When Keith caught up to John, all he did was apologize to the not-girl before giving her a scolding.

Did he not see? This was not a girl and there was something wrong with it. It was something dangerous.

Keith just sat down next to it and started talking. John had never been so appalled.

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><p>That week Keith went through mood swings. They were constant and they almost hurt to be around. It didn't help her mood any when Ivan stopped showing up.<p>

John was angry. How dare he! How dare he try to touch the dangerous not-girl! What about Ivan? Ivan was much better! She had picked him herself! And why? Why did he like this not-girl better than her Ivan?

Keith was so distracted he didn't feed her that night.

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><p>Keith closed the front door behind them and sighed, sticking his hands in his pockets and walking towards the stairwell. He was even more depressed and distracted now than he was before she had introduced him to her Ivan. Maybe he would feed her when they got back. She was out of water and he forgot to give her kibble for breakfast. She was hungry.<p>

She waited with her leash in her mouth outside the door for him to come back. She waited for so long that the old lady down the hall had gone out for groceries and come back. She patted her as she'd passed both times.

Maybe something had happened. Yes. That had to be it. Something had happened to Keith and that was why he had not come back to her. John made her way down the stairwell, through the lobby and down the street to the park hiding when she saw people in uniforms. She didn't want to go to the pound, thank you very much. And yet there was no sign of Keith yet. That was a good thing, right?

When she found him, she stopped at a distance. He was sitting on the bench with the not girl. There was nothing wrong. He had just... forgotten.

Keith had never forgotten her before. It hurt and she didn't know what to think. This was all over that not-girl. She wished she'd never shown him.

She wandered the park, dodging the uniformed people dejectedly when she caught wind of a familiar smell. She followed it for a time before she heard a whimper and a sniffle. After that, she ran.

When she found Ivan, he was curled up under a tree surrounded by those paper thing's he'd tried to teach Keith how to make, legs to his chest, head buried in his arms, crying as quietly as he could with the occasional hiccup. She whined, unsure how to comfort her little blond and licked his hand.

Ivan's head shot up and her stared at her unseeing, fat tears rolling down his face. He wiped them with his sleeve before mumbling her name in question. She let out another whine. Ivan uncurled and wrapped his arms around her, crying into her fur.

That night John went home with her Ivan. He fed her human food because he didn't have any kibble, but that was fine. He gave her the food in a pink bowl with white kitty faces on it and he gave her water in a brown bowl with black kittens on it. He told her that the white one was Hello Kitty and the black one was Chococat. He told her about how when he found out that Keith had a dog he had given him a blue bowl with puppies on it. His name was Pochacco. She wished she could tell him that Keith had made it her bowl. Instead she licked him in thanks.

If Keith didn't want her, she would take care of her Ivan. He needed her more now anyway.

When Ivan went to bed, she followed him. He let her on the bed with him and she fell right to sleep. A few hours later there was an explosion. When John looked out the window, the entire night sky was still lit up.

She moved back to the bed and whined. Ivan was curled up fast asleep, a feeling of sad and heartbreak surrounding him, Keith's name on his lips. He was covered in the smell of salt from crying himself to sleep.

John made sure to stay cuddled up extra close to him.

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><p>John liked her Ivan, even when he was sad. He bought her kibble after the first day and always made sure she had water. He held her and played with her and didn't get too mad when she chewed up one of his toys. He was so sad about it that she didn't do it again. He bought her puppy toys the next day. While he couldn't hold on in tug-of-war as long as Keith could, he still tried. Sometimes she let her toy go and he fell back with his funny 'uwah!' sound.<p>

He was a hero too. When she found his not-normal clothes she knew better than to chew on them. She didn't mark them either. They smelled far more metal than Keith's and last time she marked the metal parts of Keith's clothes he worried for a long time about rust. She would spare her Ivan that.

Ivan also took her on a walk every day. They avoided actually walking past the fountain after the first two days. Keith liked to sit there by himself with flowers, his head in the clouds. As much as she wished otherwise, John knew that they were for the not-girl and not for Ivan. They always walked close enough to check and see if he was there.

A week later Ivan took John for a walk while it was raining. Keith was slumped on the bench, flowers half destroyed from the downpour looking dejected. She looked up at her Ivan, whining softly. He looked down at her with his sad eyes and his shoulders drooped and all she could think of was a pup that has just injured itself in a way that wouldn't heal for months, if at all.

"I think that Keith needs you," he whispered, kneeling down on the wet pavement and giving her a hug. Somehow she knew that the wetness on her fur was not from the rain. He nuzzled his face again her. "Thank you for being there for me, John."

He stood, wiping his face and started walking towards Keith. He stopped before him and Keith didn't notice until her Ivan had covered him with the umbrella, the wet sinking into his now exposed clothes.

Keith blinked and looked up.

"Hi Keith," Ivan all but whispered. John barely heard him over the rain, but she knew his voice had hitched because of how he had tensed while speaking. She whined.

"Ivan! Hello! I didn't see you!" Keith forced a smile. It hurt to watch.

"Ah. Yeah." Ivan sat down next to him and John sat at his feet. She was already wet so it didn't make much of a difference.

Ivan took a deep breath. "Keith. If... If I told you. Seeing you do this- If I were... Would it matter if..." he trailed off, unable to put into words what he wanted to so desperately say, what he wanted to express.

"Ivan?" Keith was puzzled. "Is there something wrong?"

"What I mean to say. I really... Keith I l-"

A boom of thunder cut him off and the little blond clenched his eyes tight. John could tell he was just barely keeping himself from sobbing. She knew not all the water on his face was from the rain.

"Never mind. It's nothing." And he forced a smile just as Keith had but ten times more painful and shoved his umbrella and her leash in Keith's hands and ran.

Keith stared after Ivan, confused before looking down at her leash.

"John?"

When they got home sometime later, John found her Pochacco kibble bowl and her water bowl empty. She bit Keith through his jacket to make him remember to feed her.

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><p>Keith fed her, took her to the park, went to work and took her to the park again everyday. Everyday, right before their second walk he would stop at the flower shop down the road and get a bouquet. When he got to the bench by the fountain, he would sit and they would stay there for hours. He would talk to her while he waited sometimes. He told her about how Mr. Tiger and Mr. Barnaby did this or how Miss Blue Rose did that or about the funny joke Dragon Kid played on Mr. Bison and Mr. Fire Emblem.<p>

He never spoke about Ivan though. It wasn't until another week later that he even brought up the little blonds name.

"I haven't seen Ivan in a long time," he told her, fiddling with the flowers he bought. "Apparently, his superiors aren't very happy with him recently. He hasn't been showing up in many pictures or earning many points."

Her Keith looked sad. It had been a long time since it felt appropriate for her to call him that.

"He never shows up at the gym anymore and we never see him in the park."

He was gripping her leash extra tight now. She could tell by how the leather creaked in his hand.

"I miss him, John. I miss him more everyday I don't see him. I miss how he would smile and it would light up his face. I miss the way he pouted and how he would just be there even if he never said anything. I miss the way he would talk about Japan and how much he wants to see it and all the things about it that I don't understand. I miss the way he could never manage to eat ice cream without getting it all over. I miss how he smiled at me and I would feel warm inside. I miss him more-" Keith cut himself off, looking like he'd been punched in the stomach.

John flopped her head down on his knee. If he'd come to the realization that she thought he had, she could wait.

"I... I miss him more than the girl who sat on this bench. No... I..."

Keith swallowed, his eyes going wide.

"I love him more than the girl who sat here."

John woofed. This was her Keith. Her spacey, air-headed Keith that she hadn't realized _she'd_ missed so much until he came back just now. And what he had said was all that she needed to know.

"I'm really dumb, John."

John huffed in agreement before standing, shaking herself out and waiting. When Keith didn't move, she bit into his jacket and pulled.

"John!"

Keith scrambled, snatching at the flowers but only managing to grab one as she tugged him out of the park. He let her lead him down the street and past the strip malls, and kept going. She was going much farther than his apartment.

When she stopped, it was in front of a small two story home that was more tall than it was wide or long. There was a mat out that had a cherry tree on it and a mailbox covered in shuriken attached to the wall next to the door. The number 1987 was painted on in calligraphy. Keith just stared at the door. John growled at him and barked loud enough to break the calm silence of the neighborhood.

There was a cry and a dull thump from inside.

Keith rang the bell. Repeatedly. In fast succession.

Ivan pulled the door open while Keith was still pushing the button, he mouth frozen in what was probably a scathing comment until he saw just who was making an annoyance of themselves.

John wasn't all that happy with what she saw. Her Ivan had near black circles under his eyes, his hair was in complete disarray, and because he didn't have his jacket on she could see that there were bruises on his arms and that he had lost a significant amount of weight. He had been little before, now he was even more so. She decided that she could let the paint on his clothes slide as it was all still fresh and partially her fault. He also had a paintbrush behind one ear, a streak of pink paint from it going across his temple. When John looked at Keith, she could tell that he wasn't registering any of that. Yet.

"I love you."

Ivan eyes widened and he threw himself at Keith who just wrapped his arms around the smaller blond, ignoring the paintbrush that left a slash a pink on his cheek, still clutching the one flower he'd managed to grab from the bouquet.

If humans were bones, John would choose to bring Keith to the Ivan-bone every time.

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><p>AN: Let me know what you think and what needs fixing! I'm sure I missed tons.


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